Working Out Your Issues (Ad Astra, 2019)

Fifteen years ago, Clifford McBride left earth to find intelligent life in the universe, leaving a wife and son behind. At some point, the mission was lost. McBride’s son has followed in his fathers footsteps and now works as part of a space station/satellite. After he survives a massive accident Roy McBride discovers that his father may yet be alive and that his experiments may be what caused the accident. See, the accident was due to a massive surge from space that has impacted the planet.

Roy is recruited to go on a mission to see if he can convince his father to stop the experiments. Much of the film is focused on Pitt’s Roy McBride’s trip and emotional journey. It is established early on that Roy is in a rather remarkable sense of self control. He is aware that this is detrimental to his relationships and that he is pretty distant from his own life. He even comments that he might be lying to everyone, even himself.

This tends to work really well, as Pitt keeps his performance largely detached and emotionless until you near the end of the film. Only as he sees possible closure do his emotions start to creep to the surface.

The film really rides almost completely on Pitt’s performance, as most characters pass in and out of the story very quickly. But Pitt is up to the task. The film is not terribly deep, it is about fathers and sons and letting go of personal pain. And the film is very much surface level. But I appreciated that the film does not get so lost in meandering philosophy (and it could have) that it feels like a solid resolution and hope for Roy by the closing minutes of the film.

The other thing I appreciated a lot in this film is the atmosphere and the world building. Set in the vague “near future” we have space stations on the moon and Mars, but nothing feels implausible. The tech feels like logical extensions from current tech. The moon is established as a borderless zone, full of tourists and threats. In the safety of America’s Moon-base you have fast food restaurants, families taking their pictures with mascots and hotel chains. but leaving there, you run into human threats.

Ad Astra is thoughtful sci-fi without being too esoteric for mainstream viewers. It is amazing to look at and Pitt gives a simple but interesting performance.

September 30, 2019 0

Marvel Begins (Captain America: The First Avenger, 2011)

Captain America was a hotly debated character for the Marvel Films. Could a character so tied to American Nationalism be a hero the world loved? Joe Johnston (who directed Disney’s fun comic book movie the Rocketeer 20 years earlier) was brought in and found a way to make that answer be yes. Among the choices made were to set the film in World War 2, rather than begin in Present day. Chris Evans was hired on to play Steve Rogers. This was not his first foray into a Marvel Property, He was Johnny Storm (the Human Torch) in the 2005 and 2007 Fantastic Four Films. He was also one of the Evil Exes in Edgar Wright’s adaption of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim graphic novels.

The film quickly establishes Steve Rogers as heroic, in spite of his physical weakness. He will take a beating. Standing up for him is his buddy ‘Bucky’ Barnes. This is one of the film’s biggest deviations. In the comics, Bucky was a teen sidekick to Captain America. The filmmakers (rightly) realized that may not play so well. And there is a twist to having Bucky go from Steve’s savior to needing saving by Steve. Steve’s multiple rejections by the military catch the attention of a part of our military that is looking for someone to be a part of an experiment. While many try, scrawny Steve Rogers keeps managing to stand out, not by his physical prowess, but by ingenuity. This catches the eye of British officer Peggy Carter.

One of the things the movie does so well is that they avoid tropes. Peggy and Steve are smitten before his transformation. She is impressed by who he is, not what he is. It would have been easy to make her yet another obstacle for her to notice only after he is physically altered. And yet, due to a terror incident that destroys the remaining Super Soldier serum, Steve is still unable to see combat. Instead, he is reduced to a promoter of War Bonds and propaganda.

Evans really sells Roger’s frustration and even feelings of humiliation. But while on a USO tour, he ends up making a big save, convincing the military they need him. This leads to crossing paths with the Red Skull, who is determined to rule the world through Hydra. Hydra begins as an arm of the Nazis, but has it’s own goals.

The film ultimately hangs on Evans to sell the character of Captain America, and boy does he sell it. He comes off as kind, dedicated to justice and most of all, simply heroic. He is supported but a great cast of actors. Tommy Lee Jones is perfectly cast as Colonel Phillips. Hugo Weaving got one of the better villain roles, since he gets to simply be Nazi Evil Incarnate. The movie makes the choice to introduce the Howling Commandos (Sans Nick Fury) as the team that works with Cap. They are an entertaining bunch.

But the standout is Haley Atwell. She is more than Cap’s love interest. She is a tough and clever military officer. But at the same time? She and Evans have a real solid chemistry, and when the film reaches it’s inevitable conclusion, their exchange (certain Steve is heading to his death) is heartbreaking.

Johnston gives us a terrific film that stands on it’s own, even if part of it’s purpose is to set up the first Avengers film.

September 27, 2016 0

Batman Will Go On (Batman Forever, 1995)

Batman Forever had some big shakeups. Tim Burton and Michael Keaton were out. Joel Schumacher and Val Kilmer were in. But the real shakeup was…Warner Brothers wanted to sell more toys. Schumacher had read Batman: Year One. He really wanted to tell that story. The studio was not interested. Schumacher thought that if he gave them the movie they wanted, he might be able to persuade them on the next film to do the film he really wanted to do.

For the Riddler, the film hired Jim Carrey (fresh off Ace Ventura:Pet Detective, the Mask and Dumb & Dumber) and for Two Face? Tommy Lee Jones (their established actor choice-no doubt selected for his uncanny resemblance to Billy Dee Williams) was their choice.

The casting of Kilmer was treated like this was a James Bond casting choice. We can replace anybody. Anyways, The story also introduced Robin (played by Chris O’Donnell). Batman’s love interest is sexy psychiatrist Chase Meridian. Really. Adding more characters means more action figures…and vehicles…Super-heroes gotta have a lot of rides…as do their arch enemies. Well, unless you are Chase Meridian…you do not get to be an action figure.

Much of the film is given to Jim Carrey to do his typical over the top goofiness that he was known for. This was three years before he started playing roles that required him to tone it down. It can become obnoxious, and Tommy Lee Jones tries to keep up, going over the top himself. Kilmer just fills his tuxedo and walks through the film. Multiple villains make for a bloated plot. Add to that the introduction of Robin? This is not O’Donnell’s finest moment. He is just not convincing as a skilled martial artist or acrobat. Chase Meridian is a very boring character. She seems to be a character existing solely because they felt there should be a love interest. You know…for the girls.

Again, there is little meat for characters like Commissioner Gordon…and the films make him feel like an old man who is ever so ineffective…and knows it, so he waits on Batman to save the day.

Visually, Schumacher goes more Art Deco with his Gotham City. He plays with vibrant colors and visual queues. This is certainly an interesting change…except it also becomes highly implausible that such a city would be built this way.

This was the Bat Franchise teetering on collapse. But there were no lessons learned.

August 22, 2016 1